Troubled Hewlett-Packard promises innovations

Hewlett-Packard, the troubled but biggest maker of personal computers, on Thursday promised "disruptive innovations" after seeing its profit slip in the past quarter.

HP said Thursday its net profit for its first fiscal quarter ending January 31 declined 16 percent from the same period a year ago to $US1.2 billion.

But it also marked a rebound from the prior quarter's $US6.9 billion loss stemming from a massive write-down in the value of a British company accused of "serious accounting improprieties."

The most recent quarterly results were better than expected, amounting to a profit of 82 cents a share, and revenues also beat forecast despite a six percent drop to $US28.4 billion.

HP, which has been struggling amid a consumer shift away from PCs to tablets and other devices, is in the middle of a major restructuring program expected to trim some 29,000 jobs.

Chief executive Meg Whitman said she expected to announce changes at the company as part of the reorganization, but offered no specifics.

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"We'll be bringing a number of new programs and disruptive innovations to market in the coming quarters, and we expect the benefits from our restructuring will accelerate through fiscal 2013," she said in a statement.

HP fended off a challenge from China's Lenovo at the top of the PC market in late 2012, according to the research firm Gartner.

But the company has acknowledged struggling in the shifting technology landscape.

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An IDC report out Thursday said global tablet sales jumped 78 percent in the past year, while desktop PC sales were down 4.1 percent and portable PCs off 3.4 percent.

IDC said that counting all "smart connected devices," including PCs, tablets and smartphones, HP ranked fourth last year, with just 4.8 percent of the market, and saw a drop in unit sales of 8.5 percent.